Her mother is the garden-history author Hazel le Rougetel.

She attended 14 schools in in England and New Zealand and then graduated in zoology from Bristol University, and, in 1964, married Martin Angel. She obtained her MSc in 1965.

In 1982/3 she presented the Yorkshire Television produced, Channel 4-screened television series "Making the Most of", which encouraged people to enjoy the British countryside. She wrote Heather Angel's Countryside to accompany the series.

She was commissioned to photograph Charles, Prince of Wales and was a guest of the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, both in 1985.

She holds an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Bath (1984), and has been Visiting Professor in the Department of Life Science at Nottingham University since 1994). She was President of the Royal Photographic Society from 1984-86, and was the founder Chair of their Nature Group. The BioCommunications Association of USA made her their 1998 Louis Schmidt Laureate. She is a Fellow of the British Institute of Professional Photography and of the Royal Photographic Society; and a Vice-President of the Nature in Art Trust

Her exhibition Natural Visions toured the UK from 2000—2004 and was also on show in Kuala Lumpur, Cairo and Beijing.

• Nature Photography: Its art and Techniques Fountain Press (1972), ISBN 9780852426708
• How to Photograph Water, (Mechanicsburg, PA), (1999), ISBN 0811724611
• British wild orchids, Jarrold and Sons, (1977). ISBN 0853067139
• Heather Angel's Countryside Michael Joseph, (1983). ISBN 0-7181-2284-4
• A camera in the garden, Quiller, (1984). ISBN 0907621341
• The book of close-up photography : text and photographs,Knopf, (1983), ISBN 0394532325
• Pandas, Voyageur Press, (1998), ISBN 9780896583641
• The water naturalist, New York, (1982), ISBN 0871966425
• Photographing the natural world, New York, (1994), ISBN 0806907142
• Monsters of the deep : sharks, giant squid, whales and dolphins, (Longmeadow Press), (1976), ISBN 0706405412
• A world of plants : treasures from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, (Little, Brown), (1993), ISBN 9780821220405
• The natural history of Britain and Ireland, (London), (1981), ISBN 0718119894
• Life in the oceans : the spectacular world of whales, dolphins, giant squids, sharks and other unusual sea creatures, (London), (1976), ISBN 0706405412
• How to photograph flowers, (Mechanicsburg, PA), (1998), ISBN 0811724557

Illustration

Additionally, her pictures are all or a significant proportion of those in:

• The Natural History of Britain and Ireland Michael Joseph, (1981). ISBN 185052064X

Papers

• Distribution pattern analysis in a marine benthic community. Helgolander wiss. Meeresuntes, 15, pp 445-454
• written with Martin Angel, based on her MSc thesis